Labe orun the journey so far......

For the First Time, i cried when my father died--Segun Adisa 

For the first time, I cried when my father died

                           -Segun Adisa, Producer, Labe Orun

Handsome Segun Adisa is a middle-aged man who hails from Ibadan, in Oyo State. He is a Christian, light-hearted and responsible family man. Also, the producer of “Labe Orun”, a popular programme aired on MITV television station with 26 years’ experience in broadcasting. Adisa spoke with KAYODE ADEMAKINWA in an interview in which he shared his memorable experience in anchoring his sensitive and investigative programme, style of dressing, challenges, and many more. Excerpts:

In the beginning

Labe Orun is just an offshoot of my programme on the Radio Nigeria in mid ’90s. It was then known as Iriri Aye.There is no way I can talk about Labe Orun without mentioning my brother, Kola Olawuyi, of blessed memory. That time we were working at the Radio Nigeria. We anchored the programme together, while I did the investigations, he anchored the actual presentation on air. Along the line, we parted ways; he went on Radio, while I opted for the Television. Later on, when late Kola Olawuyi saw the juicy in the Television programme, he stepped into it.

Any lessons?

You mean the major lessons I’ve learnt about life? Life is nothing. Some people see me as a man of no ambition, saying,“Baba, you are always in the midst of important personalities.” That I should have more than 10 houses in Lagos. Rather, I prefer to live in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. I think my life is tailored along the British where they believe that one should live a minimum comfortable life. If you see my cars, they were like toys; if you get to my house at Alagbado, in Lagos, it is also small. It’s not that I cannot do something bigger, or go about in a Jeep, but all that is vanity. I’m using the opportunity at my disposal to raise people. Even at home I have three kids. My wife can as well give birth if I want, but I believe in living the average life. The major lesson I want people to learn from me from this programme is that what God has given us is more than enough. But, Mr. A wants to acquire all as much as possible; many of us don’t think of what we need. Rather, what we want, until we change our way to aspire for what we need, then, Nigeria may not get anywhere.

Are you not scared of your life?

For God’s sake, I have been on the programme for the past 26 years. If you’re an armed robber and have practiced robbery for 15 years, if you’re being caught, then, it is the handiwork of God. So, what I have been doing for the past years and nobody killed me? It is about the mind: praying to God. This is what I want to do; it will help especially when you are living a low-keyed life and it is difficult for some people. I have always told people that any problem that would make seek the face of herbalists, Alfa, or Prophet that would pray for me, let that problem consume me.

Do you belong to any secret cult group?

I don’t belong to any cult group. In our society, the general belief is that “Die omo’kunrin o to”, meaning, man must beef up himself spiritually.   But nothing like that. God made all of us complete as human beings. Any addition or subtraction would land one into trouble. Nobody can help you except God. Truly, God would not descend from heaven, human being would have to help you, it is God that would inspire the person to help, and not that one would do it out of volition or manipulation. It is not going to work; even if it works for a while, is going to crash along the line.

Tell us about your daughter carrying the lamp. What informs it?

My daughter is not the only one carrying the lamp, but she is the most frequent. She started it at age five. Anything you’re doing, you must be dreaming about it. If you’re working for somebody, don’t think you’re working for the person, but yourself, you can work for anybody. In any job or establishment, one must be able to dream about the job. Dreaming about it would bring development. Look at the musicians that reigned in the past and we could not hear about them, look at people such as King Sunny Ade, Ebenezer Obey. If you move closer to them, they don’t rest; they keep on dreaming. So, as you dream, you see what you can add and subtract from the presentation. If you watch recently, on the programme, I introduced an indoor fountain. It was out of thinking. When I saw the outdoor fountain in the store and I priced it and it cost N30, 000 and I have seen a way that the fountain can fit in into the programme, which is nature. I used lamp, which represents the most difficult aspect of life. The newly introduced fountain tells you that life is up and down. It is the same water that goes up and comes down. Keep dreaming. For instance, people have been yearning that they want this programme beamed on air across Nigeria. We are on Ben TV in London, Millennium TV in the US. But, at the same time non- Yoruba speaking people abroad keep on talking to me everyday, that they want the pragramme in a general language, that is English. We have designed it, and are talking to some agencies. Very soon, we will come out with the English package where I would be in the background, be the presenter as soon as seeing the first shot, definitely one would know that I am behind it. I want to use the programme, again, to bring our youths into the programme because it is most appreciated by the old people who have seen both sides of life. I want to give an opportunity to the young ones for presentation of the programme. Watching a younger person telling stories about mysteries of life, they would listen. My own is to give them the stories, while, they do the actual presentation, and I would be in the background. That is the way, I would immortalize the programme, though, the older the programme, the better. I hardly go out for investigations except where it is very necessary. I am introducing youths that will be very agile and who know they can be greater than myself. Along the line, when my daughter becomes a full adult, she will join them in the presentation.

How about looking older in your regalia during presentation?

I’m actually getting older. If you remove 26 years from my current age, you could imagine how young I was, when we started, the older I grow the better for me. I use less time for makeup. But the logic behind my appearance was borne out of the observation of one of my instructors when I was doing Investigative Journalism in a University in England. My instructor, Mr. Edward, is still alive. When he asked me after this course, which medium I will be using after my studies, I told him, I prefer the Television because, I am tired of the Radio. That course was sponsored by my former organization, FRCN (Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria). He said, don’t you think that you will be ugly on TV? I said, I am ugly, what can I do? He replied that “since your programme is an elderly programme. As a young man, why don’t you dress in attire that would portray you as an old man? More so, the story given out would be a mature story. I must tell you, the idea of my dressing was given to me by a Whiteman.

Memorable day in life?

One of the memorable days I would never forget in my life was the day my father died. That was the first time I cried; I hardly cry. So, when my father died, I thought the whole world would come to an end, which was on December 6, 1990. Positive? May be I would sound childish: when I had my first son. Week before my wife was delivered of the baby boy, imagine this: I had prayed to God that I wanted to have a male child as my first child. So, I was thinking how the boy would look like. Like three months before the delivery, when I saw my own cabon copy for the first time, I was elated.

Tell us about your lucky woman

Thank God, I have a beautiful wife. She is my own kind of woman: very humble, pretty, unassuming and intelligent. Also, she is just my soul mate. Right now, I am getting old, she is getting old, but the beauty is still there. She stops child bearing at the age of 32, if you see her first son, he is taller than all of us. Despite that, she has only three kids in a space of five years. She is a complete woman.